The Effect of Curcumin on the Clinical Outcome of Pediatric Patients with Active Lupus Nephritis

Pediatric Lupus nephritis which is a sever and common complication to childhood onset systemic lupus erythematous is an aggressive inflammatory process triggered by the deposition of antigen-antibody complex in kidney tissue. The complex stimulates production of multiple immune cells, activating Inflammasome NLRP3 that plays massive role in stimulating various cytokines like IL-6. The inflammation also causes elevation in proteinuria and serum creatinine levels beside other inflammatory markers elevation (CRP )and (ESR). These children are treated with a standard regimen consists of an immunomodulator (mycophenolate mofetil) with strong steroid anti-inflammatory and also hydroxychloroquine is added to the regimen to decrease the intensity of the flares and management of arthritis symptoms. In our study we are introducing a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory drug with nephroprotective benefits which is curcumin capsules. The drug showed success in managing different autoimmune and inflammatory diseases as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease, it also showed dramatic improvement in lupus nephritis models in previous experimental study. The study primary outcome is will be the composite of the effect of curcumin on Urine protein-to-creatinine ratio and NLPR3 Inflammasome levels in blood. Patients meeting the study inclusion criteria will be educated firmly about the disease details and all information about the drug, then will be randomly assigned to one of two groups, the first group receiving the standard therapy only while the second one receiving the standard therapy beside the curcumin 1000 mg capsules orally daily, a third small group of healthy children as a control for normal inflammasome levels. Patients in the first two groups will undergo baseline evaluation at the beginning of the study including Patients' demographic data, anthropometric measures and medication history. Moreover, collecting patients' medical history which includes Duration of s